Friday, April 16, 2010

so, as suspected. i am still behind. life is rough. one day i hope to provide a blog post with recent material of the previous day's (or even weeks) activities. until then, be prepared to read about old crap.

so, moving on to the end of march. first off, let me just say that there is a real lack of cute pictures of lambs and sheep!

see what i mean?

this one would be cute if it didn't get in a street fight with a black eye and limp right leg.

and even this stuffed animal looks like its on drugs

le sigh.

not sure what ugly lambs have to do with the end of march, but i'm sure it is something. after the madera stage race i went to sactown for two races. as i discussed, i was a bit bummed by the likes of madera, so was hoping for some racing...the fields were 1/2/3 races, so they were likely to be much faster.

zamora road race

so because this was my first road race with the 1/2/3s, i figured i should know my place and start on the very back. yeah, i know better than to line up at the very back, but it just seemed like that was appropriate given that i was cat3 scum. perhaps this wouldn't have been a big deal had i actually had some skillz...but i couldn't seem to figure out how to get out of that last row for...well, pretty much the entire race.

the race was fast. this was fun; however, this also proved hard for me to move up considering we were either going super fast making it hard to move up, or we were clumped up shoulder to shoulder up to the yellow line, and i couldn't figure out how to mccook it to the front. no matter what i did, i couldn't get out of that back third of the pack.... i'd put in a huge effort to move up one row, and then somehow end up right back where i started.

when i'd come around the start/finish i'd hear michael yelling "beth, move up"... as i was in the last row. the only instructions i had for the race were: "practicing moving up"... and i was pretty much getting an "F". i wanted to put a footnote on the scantron, saying: 'honestly, i swear to god, i am trying to move up; i know it looks like i was being a lazy butt drafting at the back, but is not intentional!'

as i kept trying to move up, i kept falling back right to where i started. i was getting super frustrated with myself, as i'd see people who were next to me,suddenly be way at the front; i just couldn't figure out how to do that. i couldn't get away from the same 6 or 7 riders, no matter how much i tried... i'd always end up back where i started. it was like the first time i rode with andreas vogel on the track.... i did everything i could to move away from him, and within a second he was in front of me again. sigh.

so the last ten miles i'm getting a bit panicy, cause i really want to get out of the back but can't figure out how to move up. attacks were off the front, and at this point i just wanted to be somewhere respectable so i could field sprint. my frustration level with myself was at an 11...and i just wanted to mitigate my lack of ability at this point, by having a decent finish.

on the last hill i tried dodging around some people the best i could and put some big efforts in on the road before the final turn. i took the last turn about 20 people back. but i got kinda lucky and powered up the far far right side of the road that was pretty clear and luckily no one shut the door on me. as i was passing people, i realized i was passing a lot of people and then suddenly thought i could get a top 5, maybe. but then on the bump before the finish, i must have gotten a ton of speed, cause i got 2nd in the field sprint, for a 3rd overall.

anyway, it was pretty sweet to get 3rd place and some awesome bariani olive oil (whee!), but i did feel like a douche, considering how poorly i rode the entire day.

landpark criteriumthis is one of the few races i have done multiple times. for my warmup, michael kept making me do efforts on my rollers before the race and i was super tired and wanted to stop, but he kept making me do more. i was so tired. thank god the race was delayed 10 minutes so i had a minute to catch my breath.

this time, i made sure to line up at the front.

this picture is proof.

this didn't help much, cause i missed my pedal, then somehow made it back to the pack on lap one. JESUS- i was so mad at myself when i came around on lap 1 to find myself in the last spot.

but unlike the day before, i got LOTS of practice moving up. in fact, i got so much practice moving up, because i couldn't maintain my position to save my life! move up move up... go back, back. i felt like a bad paula abdul song. at one point during the race i thought: god damnit, i am riding so much more cause i am covering all this ground twice.

it was a fast race. i wanted to puke and couldn't believe how much we were strung out. i didn't even consider going for any primes. i just did my best to get to the front before the s-turns, because i was bound to lose about 5 positions each time. so with a 5 to go i was in good position; then with 3 to go, i was again at the back of the pack. then i moved up and with 1 to go was sitting about 10th wheel next to some fast people. i was actually happy with this, until there was swarm on the backside of the course, and i couldn't figure out how to not get sucked into the middle of the pack. it was all bad news, really.

not really sure how things played out to my advantage, but we came around the last turn, and i was pretty far back, but it looked like all the leadouts got messed up or something, so i just went early on the right side of the road, while everyone was clumped on the left. went i jumped early, i didn't think i could hold it, but was hoping to get a top 5... but i don't think anyone saw me for a bit, cause i was on the other side of the road, so i had a big gap to pad my sprint. the sprint felt like it was going on forever, and my sprint soon turned into a brisk pedaling, and i was hoping the line would come sooner rather than later.

upon seeing the finish line, i remembered my teammate's advice not to celebrate til after the line. except, at that point, i was so tired from such a long sprint, the only thing i could do with my hands was shift into the little ring. which is what i did promptly after crossing the finish line. luckily you can see my boyfriend in the background doing my victory salute for me. thanks honey!

and i won a cutting board at this race! i think this was a really cool and useful prize. thanks! i was excited between the olive oil and cutting board. i like kitchen supplies.

well, the rest of march......... i went bowling for my birthday........ i pre-rode the copperopolis course...... uhh, i think that was about it. in general, i think this picture sums up the end of march, going out like a lamb.

next up is: life in review: volume 5-- april showers. that is a pretty lame title, but maybe i'll think of something cooler....

Thursday, April 08, 2010

yes, i would say that was a pretty accurate feeling on the monday after madera stage race. as discussed in volume 2, i had been on the iron for about a week. this resulted in HUGE psychosomatic benefits. like, one night, i even stayed up until 9:30! boo yah!

unfortunately, psychosomatics only get you so far.

apparently.

well, let us back track to the two days prior to the ides of march...

saturday, march 13.

we woke up at o-dark-o'clock to get down to madera for the criterium. considering how much i loved sleeping the two weeks prior, this was not a happy wake up. but i faked it, cause michael was kind enough to drive me and be my bitch all weekend.

so because my awesome bell lap team kits have not yet arrived [i swear to god i am going to have a matching jersey and bibs this year...], i get to play the game of "what do i want to wear today?"

now, some people-- (cou--anthony eng--gh) like to give me grief about my rotating outfits. that is because he is a big loser. don't give me grief for racing in hand-me-down chamois! i don't even have two of anything! no, i am not trying to fool anyone. people can tell who i am by my big quads and snazzy orange bar tape and tire sidewalls. what more do you want from me?

anyway, so because this was three races in two days, i got to pick out three different outfits. lucky me!

race 1: criterium

attire: lauren haughey's old team oakland kit. now, lauren gave this to me probably 2 years ago. it instantenously became my favorite outfit, because:

i felt super official wearing it because the shorts and shirts were a unified combo. as in, an official team uniform! (although i wasn't on this team)

it was orange! yay orange!

i love team oakland! they are my homeboys.

anyway, i love(d) this kit so much, i perhaps over wore it. i mean, i just felt so COOL in it and that is why i wore a couple of times a week for about two years. the chamois are so comfortable. scratch that, the chamois were so comfortable. sometime this fall they turned into not being so comfortable.... in fact, i'd say they became super uncomfortable. yes, i washed them! jesus. anyway, sometime this fall these shorts became reserved for very special occasions-- being seen... and short workouts. so, this criterium was perfect!

nice kit. as you can tell, it matches great with my tires and bar tape.

okay, the race. let's see. all in all, it kinda sucked. mostly cause 2 fields were being run on the course at the same time and we combined in the last few laps and mayhem ensued. i didn't even sprint at the end, as it was so chaotic. the highlight of my race was getting a 5 second bonus prime by pretending i was riding a miss 'n out. this 5 seconds will be super important later.

we had a big women's 3 field this weekend!

race 2: time trial

attire: unnattached kit. yeah, click on that link. for real, click on it! see that is me right on the home page! now that is fame! he did photoshop that picture a lot to make me look super awesome and fast. but i am okay with that. he also made my ugly green helmet white. a lot of you might appreciate that. thanks michael for the new white helmet!

okay, yeah, the time trial. now i was super ready for it! i had borrowed tom fahey's aero bars and figured out a super sweet aero position. unfortuantely, i couldn't really ride in this position cause i hurt my hip a few weeks early. i also borrowed neighbor stephanie hseih's stupid hat. and i was wearing a skinsuit. that means business. i was ready to go fast. that, and i had 5 second time bonus going in the time trial.

now i realize i wasn't perhaps in the best form going in, but i wasn't going to let a little low iron get me down. i had mad heart for that race. i was rested and i was pissed off about that crit and i was excited to go as hard as could cause i hadn't done that in awhile, so yeah! time trial!

in fact, i was so ready to CRUSH, i figured i would give people a three minute head start....

uh huh, that is what i said. 3 minute head start..... ya know, cause i wanted the road race to be exciting.

unfortunately, i misjudged a bit.

now, how exactly i was three minutes late to my start time is still kind of beyond me, as i thought i had 5 minutes to spare. and i had biked down earlier to check the time and see how long it would take me.

anyway,when i found out i was 3 minutes late i had a shocked and disheartened look on my face;the official looked at me and said, "well, go." so i went. i was so happy i had that 5 seconds in my favor. that meant i was only 2 minutes and 55 seconds late.

anyway, as you can see, the first day of stage racing was a bit of a bummer....as is indicitive by my hair in the below picture.

interlude: juice diet

saturday, march 13 wasn't all bad. i learned one thing: i am super thin!

so before the crit two people told me i was thin. this is kind of an awkward thing hear, and not really knowing how to respond, i of course make a joke back: "i'm on a juice diet." as i found out, people's reactions to this statement were even more awkward, as they looked at me like i was serious (crazy, but serious), and then i had to make it clear that i was joking about the juice diet. and then there was that awkward pregnant pause of: oh, you made a joke and it didn't get it and it wasn't funny. ....yeah....i guess i learned an important lesson. don't joke with roadies about the absurdity of being on a diet, because they will most likely believe you.

bill nicely believed me that i was on a juice diet. but he didn't believe me when i told him i was a climber.

sunday, march 14. race 3: road race

attire: the previous week i found a great deal at eden bicycle shop in castro valley. on sale capo bibs for $30. actually, michael found them, not me. but i tried them and bought them. super duper! and they looked pretty cool and made my quads look big, so i liked that. a lot. also, bonus that the chamois was super nice and plush. oo la la. so i decided to wear those for the road race and on top, i wore my plain black jersey. the navy blue and black didn't match so well, but what can you do?

here is me sporting my sweet new shorts. poor karla has on team white shorts. HA! i think that is kinda like in high school track when there was always that one school that didn't have shorts but wore bun huggers. and of course i would make fun of them wearing bun huggers....that is until i went to college and had to wear bun huggers on the track team.

anyway, so i had an omelet for breakfast and was ready to rock n roll in the road race. i surprisingly wasn't last place after my TT debacle! actually, i didn't care much about the road race at all-- i just wanted to ride super hard and have lots of fun.

unfortunately, this was not in other people's race plans. in fact, i think their race plan was: 'make beth not have fun and not go fast.' it was perhaps the least fun race ever. ...topped only by that 5 person reverse win 'n out on the track that turned into a track standing contest. (note: i can't track stand) this race was faster than track standing. barely.

i think the slow and negative race really came down to peoples' breakfast choices. on the start line, i did a poll, and was shocked to hear what people had. oatmeal, cheerios, a cliff bar and some fruit. (those were separate answers, one person didn't eat all of that). we had 70 miles ahead of us! no wonder everyone was such a sissy pants! perhaps i wouldn't have been so energetic if i had had less breakfast.

i think the highlight of my race actually when we stopped to pee. i had never done that before. (that is, pee en group on the side of the road.) it was actually a great time to pee, because some geezer field had just passed us, but then slowed down and we were about to pass them back. this was going to be annoying for the next few laps, so the pee break was great timing. except after the pee break, we almost caught them again. this is when i told the cool moto ref to zoom up there and tell the old guys to grow a ball or two. he zoomed up to them, and i don't know if he completed my instructions, but they did speed up.

anyway, everyone seemed content to keep their GC placing and no one wanted to go with any attacks and everything got chased down, and then sat up... blah blah blah. oh, but i did get some really awesome race advice: "beth, you really aren't going to get away and are just tiring yourself out. if you want to get in a break, you should really tell someone before you are going to attack."

i didn't hit anyone in the gut this time. that was for later!

so, yeah, the race was dumb. when the rollers started before the finish line, tyler jumped away. i was a few people back and in bad position... so it was either try and bridge across (if i could, which was unlikely at that point) and probably drag people with me, or move up for the final hill sprint. i did the later, so got second. /yeehaw./ please observe the sarcasm. it was a long and boring race.

as you can tell, it wasn't exactly a great weekend of racing for me, but i think i at least got some good training in. so that is what i really wanted. plus, i met some nice folks, so that is always fun!

et tu brute?

why march 15th was a stab in the back? had i really killed it the prior weekend, i would have expected to feel like a piece of shit. ...but i didn't really kill it-- and i still felt like a piece of shit! in fact, in the whole weekend of racing, there was probably 30 minutes of hard riding-- between the time trial and the finish of the road race. so why i was feel so exhausted was quite disheartening.

well, that is it friends, the ides of march.

next up: 'life in review: volume 4--out like a lamb'. this is the final addition of my catch up. that means everything next week will be in real time. (or at least pretty close to it.). i know, the excitement must be overwhelming.

Wednesday, April 07, 2010

back when i lived in ohio, i am guessing this referred to snow storms, which were supposedly over by the end of the month. yeah, right, like that ever happened.

who knows! i just like this lion cartoon. isn't it cute?

i don't really think march came in like a lion for me. beginning of march i got my blood drawn and found out i was almost anemic. yes, yes, i can hear all the "i told you so's" -- from all those people who have been on my case for not eating meat for the last five or six years. i guess donnettes don't cut it..... it's a shame, really.

anyway, the doctor told me to get on the juice. and by juice, i mean iron pills.

my whole life i have been very bad at keeping on regimens. especially vitamin regimens. i only take vitamins after a night of drinking alcohol, as i am convinced it prevents hangovers. so when faced with the task of taking a pill everyday... i was quite nervous about my success rate of actually taking my iron pill.

in hopes to hype myself up for this seemingly very difficult self-care task ahead of me, i read everything i could on ways to increase iron absorption.

iron is best absorbed on an empty stomach.

it is also best absorbed when NOT taken with zinc or calcium, as they compete for absorption.

BUT vitamin C helps iron absorption.

take your iron pills 2 hours after eating, or 1 hour before eating.

now, this order presented quite a conundrum for me. when during the waking day do i not eat for 3 hours?

when exactly i could take this iron supplement to maximize my iron absorption!?!

the only logical time it seemed for me to take my iron pill was between 2am and 4am.

i was sure this was going to set me up for failure. after all, if i couldn't even get on a schedule to take a multivitamin for more than 5 days straight...how in god's name was i going to get up at 3am to take my iron pill?

i don't know how, but i think this is the best i have ever done taking a pill. my strategy is as follows. i drink a big glass of water right before i go to sleep, then i usually wake up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, and stumble upon the bottle of ferrous fumarate that i keep next to the sink. and it is that easy.

anyway, my 'low iron' is how much rolled in.

the day after i got my blood test results and started my iron pill, i went on a 4 hour bike ride. the previous week i had been so sleepy, even one hour rides were hard. but when i got on the bike that day- i was ready to roll! i zipped along for a good hour-- clearly the one iron pill had solved all my problems!

well, that didn't last very long, as i crawled home up redwood road wishing i had a granny gear. scratch that, it wasn't the gear. i really just wanted to take a nap in the park. it was warm and sunny and napping sounded much nicer than bicycle riding.

well, that the beginning of march. so, yes-- in like a lion.

oh lions are so cute!

(when they are sleeping!)

next up-- life in review: volume 3--the ides of march.... oooooooooooooooo

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

...for those of you who don't know about the copperopolis road race, it is hilly and the road hasn't been repaved since the probably the new deal.

there were some doubters that i was actually going to do the copperopolis road race. in fact, nice guy, team captain brian peterson sent me the following email in january when i said i was going to do this race:

you are really going to do copperopolis? don't you know there is a hill on that course?

yes, i knew there was a hill on the course! thus began my peterson training, which i discussed in an earlier blog post. i couldn’t wait to cross the finish line and bellow out peterson’s name: PEEEEETEEEERSOOOOOON!!!!

i didn’t so much care if i was first or last, i just really wanted to yell his name at the finish line and get some weird looks.

so m and i woke up early for the race and i made the porta potty stop right when i got there… now, it was a super long porta potty line. i mean, extra long. There were probably 12 porta potties in commission. i couldn’t figure out why the line was long… i mean, i know it was 7:30am, so a bunch of people could have been taking their morning craps… but the line was moving very slowly. especially given how many stalls there were. after standing in line for awhile, i started to notice certain doors weren’t moving at all. [now, please note: these porta poties didn't have the red/green markers on them if you knew if they were open/closed]

at this point, i am about 15 people back, and i get out of line and try the door on the end, which i had noticed hadn’t moved in awhile…

open.

the next one, locked.

the 3rd one.

open.

i started going down the line of porta potties grabbing the handles and yanking them... and 6 were OPEN! there was a bit of commotion in the porta potty line at that point in time.

jesus, people! check the doors!

this happened yet again about 30 minutes later. i went back to the rest room while some of the men’s fields were started and there were 8 people in line. this time i just walk right up and start opening doors, and i demonstrated that 4 doors in a row were open.

at this point, i decide it was going to be a pretty good day. next, i did a very important thing:

thank you, boyfriend, for taking a picture of this. dipshit.

so, i get to the start line and there are only 9 of us. that kind of stinks, but i think if we had a huge field, it wouldn’t have made a difference. by the time of the first climb, we were down to 5. that lap a big dog almost ate us. YIKES! pace was pretty solid, i thought, and when we came through the feed zone to start lap 2, we were just behind the 1/2 women, so that was cool! after that climb, it was just three of us: tyler stewart, the tootsie roll eating pro iron (wo)man triathlete and miss marian jaminson. we rode lap 2 pretty good, i thought. i felt better this lap-- it was pretty cool to be in a small group with a pro-triatlete! i had no clue how long i’d last at this game, so i was having a good time. but, i shouldn't have been fooled by feeling good on lap 2, cause lap 3 i didn't feel so good!

start line... that is probably the happiest you will have seen me all day.

this is us at lap 2, looking pretty funny.

we go through the feedzone and this was probably the highlight of the race. i was a bit loopy at this point…probably should have been eating more (or riding slower, one of the two!) i had my water bottle to throw off, and I think I chucked it a bit too hard and nailed some lady in the gut in the feedzone! OOPS! my friend rainer was on the sidelines and said: “i think she threw that overhand”.

the climb up the last lap was hard for me. when the pavement smoothed out, tyler took off. now if 'she took off,' or i just hit the wall like a big sissy, i couldn’t say. alls I knew is the distance between us was growing at an exponential rate!

check out the sweet pictures from velodramatic. this is our 2nd time up this hill. as you can see here we are all suffering pretty good behind tyler... so you can just imagine the last lap!

marian and i crested the hill and thought for a second we could catch her, so we went as hard as we could (which was probably pretty pathetic at that point), and instead of catching tyler, it was some old guy wearing blue. doh! that last lap is a bit of a blur. all I remember is things that I didn’t think were hills in lap 1 and 2, suddenly became crazy steep pitches. i was so wasted at the finish line, I forgot to yell PEEETEEERSOOOOON, even though michael had the video function on his camera ready for me. rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. so mad!

Thursday, April 01, 2010

so i need to go back in time.... i am sure i could just start from the present... but i was one of those guilty diary keepers as a kid, and if i missed a day.. or a week.. or a month, i'd always backtrack. so that is what i am doing here.. too much good stuff to share.

let's see, we last spoke in early february when i had my team ride. boo yah! i discussed how much peterson sucks. he is out of shape now, so i can't wait to kill him next time i see him.

so i think i pretty much peaked on that team ride. (like planned). the next morning we woke up and michael and i tried to ride mount diablo. it was super bowl sunday, officially the best day of the year to ride bikes, because everyone is off the road. so we rode as slow as a windup toy to the base of diablo... i rode up half way like i was an old granny with a walker, then went down, deciding riding all the way to the top was just stupid. (i.e. there was no way i was going to make it to the top.) at this point in time i think i also informed my boyfriend i think it is stupid when people propose on the top of mt diablo. not that that was actually anywhere in the horizon-- i just wanted my matter of opinion to be out there. and also i want that matter of opinion to be out there to the whole blogosphere: don't propose to me on top of mt diablo, unless you want me to say no. it's stupid. i hate it up there.

we took bart back, but used our hellyer "free pete's coffee drink" on our way home. i used this opportunity to have some fancy pancy coffee drink which i couldn't even pronounce (and didn't really know what it was), but that didn't stop me from adding shots of this and that to it... cause, it was free! amazingly, after this "coffee" i felt like a rockstar and was ready to actually go ride up mt. diablo five times... but, alas, we took bart home.. oh well. i guess that is why people drink that shit before the ride, not after.

whatever.

so then i hurt myself in the gym, cause i was stupid, and thus turned into miss whiny pants for a good week or two every time i tried to pedal, cause i was totally worthless on the bike. and then i found out i was borderline anemic and thus was totally worthless off the bike too. but i deserved in A+ sleeping! i was really good at it! honestly, i'm lucky i didn't get dumped. good thing my quads are lookin' good. anyway, pedaling so crappily let me master some other cross training activities, like this.

beth bikes learns to DUNK!

that's right, bitches!

so sometime mid-february, i did some ride called "the grasshopper". don't be fooled, grasshoppers are MEAN. i show up at this non-race, RACE.. something like a 81 mile (non) RACE with 8,000+ ft of climbing. MOMMY!!!!!!!!!!! it started straight up. at the beginning of the ride michael starts pushing me up the hills and i get a little ants in my pants, thinking: 'don't push me!' but i don't really say anything, cause i can't exactly keep up anyway. by mile 80 (...hell, mile 40!) i was cursing him for only pushing me everything 4th pedal stroke, instead of every 2nd pedal stroke, on some 20% grade, or something stupid like that. ouch.

anyway, here is a lovely picture of me, my boyfriend, and my ex-boyfriend.

hahaha.

and you know what i have to say to them? scoreboard, bitches! that ride was so hard i think i fell asleep on the car ride home.

i am pretty sure that grasshopper ride put me under for the next week or so. so then, my first road race of the year arrives... SNELLING ROAD RACE!

before the race i hung out by the porta potties, like this....

don't knock it!!

then, the super-pro, roman killun comes to talk to me... now i don't think i wrote about this, but before christmas, i had plans to go for a bike ride with martina...and then i find out that this ride is with roman, and some other fast dudes, and i am very nervous about getting dropped. we did some loop that usually takes me 4 hours to do in 3 hours, and when i get home, i fall into some deep sleep, when i was supposed to be doing christmas shopping!

anyway, on this ride roman keeps looking at my AWESOME bicycle. i don't know if you've heard of a neuvation bike-- but it "it is an aluminium bike, that rides like titanium!" (that is what the website said! i was sold!) anyway, i thought he was going to give me shit about my frame, but instead, he starts giving me shit about my janky setup. what's wrong with having shimano, sram, AND campy?!?! it creates for lovely musical bikes! and fun shifting!

sometime in february, my michael swapped out my cranks and i got a new rear derraileur, so for the first time in a year i had matching parts. and how COOL it was to shift just once to get in the gear you want!! (also i got a compact crank.... so i bet that is why my quads are getting smaller.... oh well, i like being lazy!) so, at snelling, while sitting in the parking lot, the first thing roman does is come up to me and immediately looks down checking out my bike and goes: "thank god you have all matching components now."

pros are such prima donnas!

so snelling road race went like this. we started and it was slow for the first 1 minute, and i was bored so i attacked. then i got caught and i attacked again. then someone told me: "what are you doing, do you really think you are going to stay away to the end of the race?" and that annoyed me so i attacked again. and then the pack sped up (and i was tired) and i got myself dropped! yes, i got dropped in the first 10 minutes! i chased and chased and was like, OH SHIT, what if i just got myself dropped out of this race?! this is going to be a pissy car ride home! but thankfully i caught back on, and then was miss sissy pants for the next lap on the back. then i got dropped again in the tailwind section, cause i was in the back and got gapped off, but chased back on... and you can see a pattern here..... luckily, i managed to be in good position the last lap to not get dropped there the last lap, and went around the last turn okay, but when the sprint occurred, well, i was *slow*. i held my position for 4th, so that was cool and landed me a sweet velo promo shirt- YEAH!

well, praise jesus, i am through february! march was an exciting month, so perhaps i will break it up into two segments... maybe not, though. i love the epic long posts that no one can get through.

okay, hugs and kisses to all my readers! and please leave me comments about the color scheme. if you don't like, tell me what would be more pleasing on your eyes! peace!